Support 13 villages to save the Bornean Rainforest

A few months ago, we discussed the concept of ‘community-led’ - what it means and why it’s crucial for making both people and landscapes thrive. But that’s just half the story. If local communities are to come together and shape their social, economic, and ecological futures, they need strong governance institutions: clear rules, norms, and decision-making processes.

Often, governments and larger organizations will use the lack of local institutional capacity as an argument to centralize control over natural resources. However, research suggests that local community institutions have a high potential for achieving conservation outcomes while also bolstering human well-being.

Here’s where Planet Indonesia steps in. We help communities set up governance institutions that we call “Conservation Cooperatives”, or “CCs” for short. We are constantly learning how best to provide this support. Reflecting on a decade of supporting CCs, one dilemma we have been grappling with more recently is: when do we step back? To be clear: stepping back doesn’t mean parting with (we couldn’t bear to say goodbye!). Rather, we’re looking to enter into lasting partnerships with CCs as independent institutions. So, we had to figure out what exactly CCs need support with, and when they can stand on their own. 

We came up with a tool to track the development of community-led governance institutions as they evolve. We’re very excited to launch it as the tool gives CC leaders and us a point on the horizon to work towards. On top of that, it also enables us to evaluate program outcomes and impacts better. 

Planet Indonesia’s ‘governance index’

While there exists a variety of high-quality tools for assessing community-led governance, many are very complex or theory-oriented. Seeking something more simple and practical, we mixed and matched aspects from existing frameworks, our knowledge of community-led conservation, and principles for community-led governance.

We finally landed on 25 indicators covering different aspects of governance, ranging from transparency to financial capacity, each featuring a straightforward yes/no question, and a description of acceptable supporting evidence. The percentage of indicators achieved translates into a “governance index” that categorizes CCs into four levels, from “basic” to “independent”. This index allows us to track and analyze how community institutions develop over time.

We designed the tool so it can be adapted to local contexts and aspirations. For example, indicator #25 on rules for profit distribution may not apply to a CC without business groups. In that case, we simply ‘silence’ such indicators to not reduce an institution’s overall score simply because an indicator isn’t relevant. 

The Governance Index in action

For those still wondering what this is all about, let us show you some of the exciting analyses the Governance Index enables, using the results evaluation of CCs across the Gunung Nyiut landscape in 2023.

To start, it allows us to answer important questions.

• Do the CCs Planet Indonesia supports evolve over time into stronger community governance bodies? 
• and Does improved governance help protect nature?

The preliminary analyses - that you can dive into more here - suggests that the answer to both these questions is yes! Communities and forests get stronger over time. For the PI team these are very encouraging results.

Looking ahead

The introduction of the “Governance Index” marks an important step for Planet Indonesia. These promising results, set the stage for further fine-tuning and application across all partner villages in the coming year. In time, we also hope that communities will find this tool valuable to look back and appreciate the progress they have made.